Easeyye
The Blessed Lands of Seir, called Easeyye by others, is the oldest provably contiguous state in the archipelago continent. History Founding Hayaf, the Warlord Amurydd from Suriad conquers Sver, and declares his own lordship over the city: "Ka Sver Aul Hayaf," or "Kingdom Sver under Hayaf." The chieftain in Suriad is inflamed, and sends a force to punish Hayaf. It is defeated by the warlord’s much more massive and loyal army. Proud of his independence, Hayaf pledges himself to glory, but dies before much can be done. Sver devolves into chaos, and pulls itself back into a junta when it is over. After some reorganization, the head of the junta is revealed to be Akel ih Hayaf, who seeks to avenge Hayaf, blaming his death on the chieftain: “The weak snake only strikes the proud eagle when it is sleeping – it is those snakes we kill!” Akel ih Hayaf invades, destroys, and loots Suirad. His general, Kovi ih Linne a Jasih, is fine at first, but becomes extremely upset after Akel begins to disgrace the former capital, salt the ground, and defile the graves of past Chiefs. The army stages a mutiny, organized by Kovi ih Linne. Akel ih Hayaf is murdered, and Kovi marches back to Sver with as many treasures as he could salvage. Suriad is left alone as a defiled place. Wanting to avoid losing their own culture, Kovi ih Linne renames the city of Sver to the land of Seir: "Heid Seir." Linne Dynasty Kovi of Linne from Jasih, the nobleman general, begins a dynasty under his name. The Linne dynasty extends for a couple of generations, heavily focusing in mystic and cultural affairs, until Ekith ih Linne is born to mercury fumes left from a court magician’s alchemy experiment. Ekith, compelled by his schizophrenia, commissions the building of many large and bizarre buildings, but commits a fatal mistake when he begins to extract from the taxes and wealth of nobility and generals, prompting an extreme backlash. Civil war erupts, and Ekith is killed and displayed publicly on one of his own buildings, desecrated by the populace. His body is destroyed with its burning. Seir Dynasty A man calling himself Hayaf III ih Seir, the leader of the opposite side, takes power and promises glory for the army and an end to foolish mysticism. He organizes the army for many conquering expeditions and reforms the land and estate laws for soldiers. The extremely proud and nationalistic Seir dynasty is established. Hayaf III’s successors follow in his steps. Eventually, after much conquering and expansion, the army begins to grow complacent under the generous policies. The last king (Emar) becomes so arrogant and trusting in the pride of the now-nonexistent army that he brushes off the growing dissent in the edge provinces. The edge provinces rebel, and the armies sent there are defeated by the motivated and better-disciplined rebels. The rebels, under Amid a Lon (who takes the name of an everyman) eventually lay siege to Seir and defeat the Emar – the despot’s name is removed from history. Elective Monarchy Amid a Lon’s new regime creates an elective monarchy, where the Emar is elected by a board of educated clergy-nobles, and provincially elected governors. The elected Emarid take the title of “Amid” to strengthen populist ties. The Ilanth, an outlying group of barbarians, invade. Against this threat, Hothi ih Easid is appointed as dictator. In a grand campaign, he defeats and annexes the Ilanthi, who are nowadays called the Janthid. He returns victorious, and in a popular and also church-supporting move, accredits the victory to God and this removes the dynastic name, making it just "i El Falel," of the Golden Flame. When the retirement date draws closer, Hothi begins passing laws to restore previous dynastic power. However, resentment and discontent is surprisingly lacking. The previous board of Electors stays in place as an informal board of advisers, which some Emars utilize. The Temporary Kingdom However, not too long after, there is some contention between one king and the public when both opposition and the treasury begins to suspiciously vanish. There is rumor about reestablishing the elective monarchy. Meanwhile, the capital is moved to build a new palace for the Emar. A Civil War breaks out between Emar and board-elected general, but the Emar wins. Some provinces secede, hastily hiring mercenaries while the national army has been damaged. The Emar, however, has not enough forces to fight back in power anymore. Resolution and Founding of Current Regime While the Emar is out, Seir secedes from the country. Documentation about this is very lacking. Meanwhile, chaos spreads and deepens, and infighting occurs in all forces. The Emar commits suicide. His successor, still loyal to the Royal line, makes it a duty to retake the provinces and the city of Seir. However, these attempts are met with failure and failure again, until finally, he is utterly defeated. The board and public execute the Emar's son after pulling the name away from him and cursing his line, and reinforce their own power shortly after. With a decisive series of decrees, the elective monarchy is reestablished. Religion The religion called "Kamal," meaning "I carry / oblige myself" focuses on the worship and glorification of El Falel, the Golden Flame, literally translated as “God-Fire.” In the mythology, now twisted somewhat from its nomadic roots, the Flame of God arose from Chaos, and rose from the sky to strike the darkness of its counterpart from the lands, freeing the earth from its rule, and instilling the earth with a harmonious balance. However, when humankind was freed from the primordial Chaos from the birthplace of the Cosmic Fire, both El Falel and Uligan, the Chaos, spoke to them and entered their minds – thus was born the human choice of will. Because of the eventual return of Uligan’s power, it is believed that it is humankind’s duty to burn away delusion with the light of knowledge, and the unrighteous with the fire of destruction – it is humanity’s obligation to keep away Uligan, and to defeat the darkness and bring light to the entire world. One may gain further connection to the Sacred Fire through internal contemplation and rites. However, the approach to god is a realization of the sublime, not so much a visceral thing, and thus the religion in some variants holds more ascetic values. Many temples to El Falel are set up throughout the country, with larger ones in larger cities – they are usually centers of activity for people of all classes – but especially scholars. The complexes can be very spread-out and have many other buildings attached to them, often places of learning or public offices. There is much fascination with alchemy, second only to astronomy, and many have sacrificed themselves to the Sacred Flame in bringing its light to the world. It's harder to ignore missionaries when they bring the light to your face in the form of an explosion. The dominant group is descended from the Amurydd from Suriad (Amurid) who first brought in this religion – it especially proved to be popular among other groups because of the progressive and generally socially beneficial ideas. Some in the country or outlying provinces set up shrines to minor gods of the harvest, but they are considered as manifestations of El Falel. (e.g. the sun, harvest, etc.) There is a rather unhealthy obsession with poetry, and contention has arisen between scholars and peddlers of fake mystic-sounding proverbs. Government The Board of Electors and a great entrenched class of nobility take great place in the forefront of Seiri politics, with the clergy also holding much power. Often, it seems that the provinces of Seir might be their own countries if let free from the power of the main state. Category:Dreams of an Empire Category:Dreams of an Empire nations